


For Ever and Ever

by 3jelly_beanss



Category: Villains Series - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Healing, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Scars, also victor, alternate ending to vengeful, asexual Victor, but he deserves love, he may be a psychopath, i just want eli and victor to be happy, just let eli be happy, just really sad and soft but also happy, pls let victor be happy, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26990926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3jelly_beanss/pseuds/3jelly_beanss
Summary: What if Victor didn't kill Eli? What if he hadn't had to? What if, instead of killing each other, all they needed to do was save each other?-I decided not to actually write the explanation of how Eli and Victor came to a truce and like how Eli's redemption arc happened, I just fast forwarded to them being hopelessly in love. Have some angsty cuddling, because we're all touchstarved right now.
Relationships: Eli Cardale | Eli Ever & Victor Vale, Eli Cardale | Eli Ever/Victor Vale
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	For Ever and Ever

**Author's Note:**

> this is not good and i wrote it at 2 am but i hope all of you readers enjoy it :)

Eli Ever was shivering. He didn’t often shiver, and he didn’t enjoy shivering. He expressed this to Victor, sitting next to him on the balcony, cold wind blowing above them and fog rolling in below them.

“I fuckin’ hate the cold.”

Victor grunted, and smiled just barely. Eli saw and smacked his arm playfully.

“Hey! Just be grateful you still have the body of a twenty year old. I feel this shit in my bones.” Victor shifted and groaned. Eli swore he could hear the man’s knees creak.

“Ha. Old.”

“Shut up, Cardale.”

They continued to sit there, despite the cold. The view was beautiful, really. The whole city of Merit spread below them, multicolored lights and signs and yellow windows shining in the dark. Eli breathed in the cold air, and it smelled like smoke and rain and someone’s perfume, maybe. He shivered vigorously, his teeth chattering together.

Victor stood slowly. Eli admired him from where he sat. He’d come far from the epileptic skeleton that he’d fought last year at Marcella’s party. He’d filled out, and his cheeks were a healthy pink. He may have scars and have to survive off of some weird concoction made by a doctor that’d tortured Eli, but he was doing well.

Victor turned and, without warning, put his arms under Eli’s knees and back, lifting him with ease. Eli squeaked and tried to protest, but Victor scooped him up and he was helpless. He was forced to lean into Victor’s chest and curl into him like a cat, and when I say ‘forced’ I mean ‘he was cold, but also he just really wanted to.’

Victor smiled down at the top of his head, where Eli’s curly brown hair was tickling his neck. Eli let out a small noise, like a cat’s purr, as he settled into Victor’s arms.

Victor felt him stiffen, obviously embarrassed. “What was that?”

“Huh?” Eli asked innocently. He looked up at Victor’s face and saw a teasing glint in his cold blue eyes. “If you tell anyone- I- Just remember that I’m invincible and could totally kill you.”

“Yeah right, we have your kryptonite right in the cabinet, dumbass.” The tall, thin man replied.

“Shut up, you bastard.”

“Love you too, idiot.” Victor said. Eli shrunk further into his arms. Victor snorted and Eli groaned, embarrassed. 

The apartment was small, and temporary as usual. They were on the run from the police, as they always were, but this time one thing was different: they were together. They were even more noticeable, vulnerable, and threatening than ever before. At least, to law enforcement. Stell seemed to be ignoring the fact that neither of them had dropped a single body since Eli’s escape. That, or he was looking for the bodies, or he’d found the wrong ones.

Mitch had gone his own way, and Victor had reluctantly abandoned Sydney. He visited her sometimes, though, still. His and Eli’s invisible path through the world followed hers, a close and undetectable trail. He just liked to make sure she was alright nowadays. He often discovered Mitch visiting her too, though the big man simply went up to her and talked to her and asked her how she was doing. This was too direct for Victor, so he observed them from afar with the help of his former best friend and nemesis.

The apartment was small and efficient, detail-oriented and extremely organized, similar to its two inhabitants. Victor walked into the living room and through the small kitchen to their bedroom, Eli huddled, still shivering a bit, in his arms.

They shared a bedroom and a bed. The two had come to this end after their first apartment only had single rooms to rent. At first, they took turns on the couch and bed. Then, they started to share because that got too uncomfortable. Occasionally, they would wake up tangled together, suffocated by the other man, or locked in a warm embrace. They would slowly disentangle and move away, not mentioning this. Victor and Eli may have been geniuses and prone to intense philosophical and scientific discussion, but they would do anything to avoid talking about their feelings.

Victor carried Eli into their room and bent over to lay him gently on the bed. He tried to stand up, but was pulled back down by the muscular arms around his neck. He and Eli’s foreheads were almost touching. The small, younger man looked up at him and smirked.

“What? Eli-?” Victor yelped as the other man suddenly pulled him down onto the bed. The blonde man landed on his back and found Eli crouched atop him, hands on either side of his face. Their eyes were locked, and as much as Victor wanted to look away, he was mesmerized by the variating brown, black, and gold in Eli’s dark eyes. “My back.”

“Oops.” The young man gave him a sheepish smile, but Victor knew Eli saw straight through his lie. The blonde’s eyes darted quickly to the other’s lips. Eli was licking them, and Victor caught a flash of his sharp, white canines.

“What are you doing?” Eli didn’t answer, just leaned in so much that Victor’s eyes were almost crossed looking at him, and he could taste his breath on his lips. His dark, sleepy eyes darted between Victor’s eyes and his lips, as if he was asking permission. The old man was tired of waiting. He met Eli’s lips and pulled him in by his waist. Eli giggled and Victor almost burst out laughing. They pulled away from each other.

“What was-”

“I didn’t- I can’t-” Eli collapsed on top of Victor with an exasperated sigh. “I can’t help it.”

Victor snorted and kissed the top of Eli’s head. Eli must have just taken a shower, he thought, considering how much his soft hair smelled like vanilla and clovers. “What are we doing?”

Eli shoved himself up from the tall, thin man’s chest and met his blank gaze with a puzzled look. He frowned and climbed off Victor, turning away and onto his side. The blonde turned, confused, to see the smaller man curled in on himself. 

Eli felt warm hands, thin fingers, wrap around his waist and into his curly mop of dark hair. Victor pulled Eli into himself until they were flush with each other, and the older man realized how cold Eli still was. He wrapped himself entirely around Eli’s smaller form and let his warmth seep into him. After a few minutes of this, Victor pulled back a bit. 

“D’you want to sleep?”

“‘M tired,” Eli responded. Victor sat up and pulled off his black turtleneck, revealing the pale skin of his abdomen, covered in ragged scars mostly caused by the man lying right next to him. Eli fidgeted with the buttons of his shirt until he was able to pull it off and throw it to the ground. Victor’s eyes were immediately drawn to the pink and white raised marks on Eli’s back. The way they were placed, it almost looked like Eli used to have wings that were ripped off of his back. Victor knew Eli was no angel, but the scars still made him sad. They were made before Eli had corrupted, before he had any chance to be truly evil, though Victor knew very little except that they were probably there because of Eli’s father. 

He laid back down on his side and stretched a hand out to touch the scars. He stroked one gently with a thumb, and he felt Eli shudder under it. Victor drew closer to the small man, brow furrowed. He leaned in to kiss each one of the scars, just barely pressing his lips to the raised, white skin across Eli’s back. The thin, tall man realized suddenly Eli’s shoulders were shaking, and his breathing was ragged. He was crying, chest heaving with emotion, hands clasped under his sternum. Victor was shocked and bewildered. Fuck. He was no good at this. He didn’t know how to comfort people. Shit. He ran his hand down Eli’s shoulder in a futile attempt at comfort.

“Eli? Eli, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to- I’m so sorry.” Victor whispered, voice shaking. He felt bad, guilt settling in his stomach like a rock. Fuck. Why did Eli do this to him? How? He heard Eli chuckle faintly and he became even more puzzled.

“Vic… Thank you.” Eli turned around, and Victor saw his long, wet eyelashes and pink eyes. He didn’t have a chance to wipe Eli’s face before the man tucked it into Victor’s chest. Hesitantly, unsure, the blonde wrapped his long limbs around Eli and pulled him close. He ran his hand across the other’s back, allowing his fingers to brush gently against the scars. 

Eli said again, though muffled against Victor’s chest, “Thank you.”

Victor held him close and ran his fingers through the curly hair at the base of Eli’s neck. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” He told him. They relished in each other’s warmth and comfort until the morning, when they discovered themselves yet again hopelessly entangled. This time, they decided not to separate until they absolutely had to, and even then, if Eli had asked him to, Victor would have laid there until the world ended.


End file.
